Brazil judge takes on Musk's X as 'fake news' crusade ramps up
Repeats to add headline tag
Moraes' investigation targets Bolsonaro's 'cabinet of hate' and election misinformation
Critics accuse Moraes of heavy-handed tactics against politicians and businessmen
Musk calls Moraes a 'dictator' after judge's actions against X and Starlink
By Anthony Boadle
BRASILIA, Aug 30 (Reuters) -Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes' decision to shut down billionaire Elon Musk's social media platform X is just the latest chapter in a no-holds-barred crusade against perceived attacks on democracy and the political use of disinformation.
"We have a right to defend fundamental rights. Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable," Moraes said in a speech on Friday, without mentioning X by name or his decision.
On Friday, Moraes ordered the full and immediate suspension of X in the country until all related court orders on X were complied with, including the payment of fines amounting 18.5 million reais ($3.28 million) and the nomination of a legal representative in Brazil.
Moraes ordered telecomunications regulator Anatel to implement the suspension order, and to confirm to the court within 24 hours that it had carried it out.
Musk, who is also CEO of electric-vehicle maker Tesla TSLA.O and rocket company SpaceX, had previously denounced the threatened move as censorship.
Moraes, 55, is a lawyer who was tough on fighting crime when he was in charge of public security for the state of Sao Paulo. He shot to prominence in 2019, two years after his appointment to the Supreme Court, when he began to lead an investigation into "fake news" being generated during the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
That investigation, which is still open, focused on what Moraes himself has described as a "cabinet of hate" that operated from inside Bolsonaro's presidential palace with the aim of attacking opponents and spreading lies and distortions.
"Brazilian institutions were failing to regulate social media properly," said André Cesar, a political analyst. "Moraes took on the role of grand regulator and he likes doing that."
Among the falsehoods investigated by the judge was criticism by Bolsonaro and his political associates that Brazil's electronic voting system was open to manipulation.
Moraes was also in charge of investigating an alleged conspiracy to provoke a military coup to overturn Bolsonaro's defeat by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2022 and Bolsonaro's encouragement of his supporters to invade and vandalize government buildings a week after Lula took office.
Under his leadership, the country's electoral authority declared Bolsonaro ineligible for eight years, the first time this happened to a Brazilian president in the country's history.
While Moraes' defenders see him as a crusader in the defense of democracy, critics accuse him of using heavy-handed methods to raid the homes of politicians and businessmen, arrest them without trial and freeze their bank accounts.
Musk, who has compared Moraes to the "Harry Potter" villain Voldemort, has also described the judge as a "dictator," calling him "an outright criminal of the worst kind, masquerading as a judge."
In his fight against disinformation, the judge ordered social media networks to take down postings by politicians and influencers that he deemed to be a threat to Brazil's institutions, usually on accounts of Bolsonaro backers who denied he had lost his 2022 reelection bid.
And that is where his run-ins with Musk's platform began.
After Musk challenged his decision to bar certain accounts and said he would reactivate them, Moraes in April opened an inquiry into the billionaire for obstruction of justice.
Earlier this month, X announced it was closing its offices in Brazil due to what it called "censorship orders" from Moraes, though it kept its site open for Brazilian users.
The judge warned on Wednesday he would suspend the service if X did not appoint a legal representative as required by Brazilian law. On Thursday, Moraes blocked the local bank accounts of Musk's Starlink internet firm, saying they could be used to cover fines that the judge previously imposed on X.
Even as many Brazilians have sided with Moraes, insisting that Musk must comply with Brazilian law, some have asked if he has gone too far.
"He is a defender of democracy, but has overstepped his role as a judge at times when dealing with social media," said analyst Cesar, of consulting firm Hold Assessoria Legislativa. "He thinks public opinion is on his side, but I don't know for how long."
Before sitting on the Supreme Court, Moraes was minister of justice after serving as secretary of public security in his home state of Sao Paulo.
Moraes, a Catholic, holds conservative views on the economy. For years, he was a member of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party which has largely vanished from the political landscape.
Explainer: What is Elon Musk's feud with a Brazilian Supreme Court justice about? https://www.reuters.com/technology/what-is-elon-musks-feud-with-brazilian-supreme-court-justice-about-2024-08-29/
Musk's X braces for Brazil shutdown as authorities call for accountability https://www.reuters.com/technology/lula-says-musk-must-respect-brazils-top-court-x-braces-shutdown-2024-08-30/
Reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Editing by Christian Plumb and Matthew Lewis
අදාළ වත්කම්
නවතම පුවත්
වියාචනය: XM Group සමාගම් ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම පමණක් වන සේවා සපයන අතර වෙබ් අඩවියේ හෝ වෙබ් අඩවිය හරහා ලබා ගත හැකි අන්තර්ගතය බැලීමට සහ/හෝ භාවිත කිරීමට පුද්ගලයෙකුට ඉඩ සලසමින් අපගේ මාර්ගගත වෙළඳ පහසුකම වෙත ප්රවේශය ලබා දෙන අතර වෙනස් කිරීමට හෝ පුළුල් කිරීමට අදහස් නොකරයි. එවැනි ප්රවේශය සහ භාවිතය සෑම විටම (i) නියමයන් සහ කොන්දේසි, (ii) අවදානම් අනතුරු ඇඟවීම් සහ (iii) සම්පූර්ණ වියාචනයට යටත් වේ. එබැවින් එවැනි අන්තර්ගතයක් සාමාන්ය තොරතුරුවලට වඩා වැඩි යමක් සපයා නොමැත. විශේෂයෙන්ම, අපගේ මාර්ගගත වෙළඳ පහසුකමේ අන්තර්ගතය පෙළඹවීමක් හෝ මූල්ය වෙළඳපොළවල කිසිදු ගනුදෙනුවක් සිදු කිරීමට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමක් නොවන බව කරුණාවෙන් සලකන්න. ඕනෑම මූල්ය වෙළඳපොළක වෙළඳාම් කිරීම ඔබේ ප්රාග්ධනයට සැලකිය යුතු අවදානමක් එක් කරයි.
අපගේ මාර්ගගත වෙළඳ පහසුකමේ ප්රකාශිත සියලු කරුණු අධ්යාපනික/තොරතුරුමය අරමුණු සඳහා පමණක් අදහස් කෙරෙන අතර මූල්ය, ආයෝජන බදු හෝ වෙළඳ උපදෙස් සහ නිර්දේශයන්; හෝ අපගේ වෙළඳ මිල පිළිබඳ වාර්තාවක්; හෝ ඕනෑම මූල්ය උපකරණයක ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමක් හෝ ඒ සඳහා පෙළඹවීමක්; හෝ විශේෂ ඉල්ලීමකින් තොරව ඔබ වෙත ලබා දෙන ලද මූල්ය ප්රවර්ධනයන් ලෙස නොසැලකිය යුතුය.
ඕනෑම තෙවන පාර්ශවීය අන්තර්ගතයක් මෙන්ම XM විසින් සකසන ලද අන්තර්ගතය එනම් අදහස්, පුවත්, පර්යේෂණ, විශ්ලේෂණ, මිල ගණන් සහ වෙනත් තොරතුරු හෝ මෙම වෙබ් අඩවියේ අන්තර්ගත තෙවන පාර්ශවීය වෙබ් අඩවි සඳහා සබැඳි සාමාන්ය වෙළඳපොළ විවරණයක් ලෙස "පවතින පරිදි" සපයා ඇති අතර එහි ආයෝජන උපදෙස් ඇතුළත් නොවේ. ඕනෑම අන්තර්ගතයක් ආයෝජන පර්යේෂණයක් ලෙස අර්ථ දක්වා ඇති ප්රමාණයට, ආයෝජන පර්යේෂණයේ ස්වාධීනත්වය ප්රවර්ධනය කිරීමට නිර්මාණය කර ඇති නෛතික අවශ්යතාවලට අනුකූලව අන්තර්ගතය සකසා නොමැති බවත් එලෙස අරමුණු කර නොමැති බවත් ඔබ සලකා පිළිගත යුතු අතර එබැවින් එය අදාළ නීති සහ රෙගුලාසි යටතේ අලෙවිකරණ සන්නිවේදනයක් ලෙස සලකනු ලැබේ. ඉහත සඳහන් තොරතුරු සලකා මෙතනින් ප්රවේශ විය හැකි, ස්වාධීන නොවන ආයෝජන පර්යේෂණ සහ අවදානම් අනතුරු ඇඟවීම පිළිබඳ අපගේ දැනුම්දීම ඔබ කියවා තේරුම් ගෙන ඇති බව සහතික කර ගන්න.
